what does everyone think of the future of the team? This was an insane trade deadline. The strong teams seemed to have got stronger and the weak teams weaker. It seems like just to be a 4 or 5 seed in the East a team will need 2 stars..... Detroit barely has one with Tay and that's if they resign him. Monroe has potential but where I originally thought one player would help turn things around I'm second guessing that a bit. We really need two players to turn things around. Detroit has a lot of depth and role players. They need stars (and that's plural on purpose). They are going to have to hit a homerun in the lottery this year and either get a big FA or somehow pull of a major trade.

With as strong as the East is on the wing now I think we really do need to lock up Tay. He's always been under rated and is putting up very good numbers this year. To be able to hang with Melo, Lebron, Pierce, etc on a nightly basis we need a strong defender at that position. Hopefully Joe D is being honest when he says Detroit intends on resigning him.

I think Charlie and Daye are too similiar of players. Tall guys who shoot outside. Since Daye is cheaper I say we keep him and try to package Charlie with Rip next year. Rip will have more value when he's an expiring contract. As we saw this year teams are interested, but they are worried about the contract. Next year they won't be as worried about that contract.

Right now my hope with the draft is we can get as high of a pick as possible and we go for the person with the most potential. I don't want to play it safe. We need to try to hit a homerun. I'm not worried about the position they draft, just get me the guy who has the potential to be an all-star every year. I think we'll probably miss out on all the big time FA's for the next couple of years. That means the draft will be how we'll have to do this.... It also means we're going to have a rough couple of years. This rebuilding thing isn't going to be as quick as we thought. We're going to have to take the OKC model and hope to get the next Durant and Westbrook through the draft. We did well by getting Monroe last year. This year we need another good pick and 2012 will be a deep draft potentially so if we suck again next year (highly likely) we should be able to shoot for the moon again in that draft.

The other part of this equation is this team really needs to get sold. They need leadership and new direction. Also a little financial freedom. Karen Davidson is killing us this year.... The business side of this is kind of a pain as a fan.

I wish we had done something, but oh well. Without being able to take on salary, any trade was mostly worthless. I did NOT want Dallas' first rounder. IT woudl have been a burden for the guaranteed salary. We already have a high 2nd, our own 2nd and a lottery 1st. Those 2nd rounders are as valuable as DAllas' late 1st and aren't guaranteed deals.

I like Monroe, personally I think of him as a PF who can play some C, like a Gasol. I like the idea of Jerebko off the bench behind him, getting 25 minutes or so. Greg will play 20-25 at PF and 10-15 at C. I think Tay may be kept, but he may just take the MLE with some contender like LA(Clips or Lakes for that matter). If he stays, I like us with him and Daye at the SF spot and Stuckey and Gordon at the 2. Stuckey will play some backup PG as well. As of now I say just start Bynum at the PG spot and see what happens. He produces when he's out there. If we can find a new PG in trade or the draft, then we go with them, but we may not be able to.

The biggest key is a C who can get physical and defend. Perkins is a FA, Chandler is a FA and Vareajao can probably be had in trade. Hopefully a new coach and owner plus a Joe D with some power can keep guys like Prince and Ben happy, so they stay on as vet leaders. We need to get Rip and Charlie off the roster as soon as possible. tHey are both in the way. Mcgrady won't be back, he'll latch on to Miami or LAL, maybe some other contender. SHould have signed with Chicago eh, haha.

Maybe we could do somethign like Charlie and Rip plus our lottery pick (3rd for Cleveland, who is rebuilding obviously) for Varejao and Jamison. We take on a little salary for them this year and give them a 1st. Charlie is a younger player than Jamison and they might have some use for him in Cle and maybe they can buy out Rip a half year later or get him to stay. He has to go either way. We would probably buy out Jamison immediately, though he could stay as a 6th man. I wouldn't want him though, get him out of Monroe/Jerebko's way.

I've brought up Chandler a few times in the past too, and I still would love to try to get him. He just seems like he fits the Pistons mold. A front court of him and Monroe would be the best we've seen in a long time. With what he's done in Dallas I just can't picture Cuban letting him walk though. Damn, I really wish that trade with Charlotte would have went down......